Natalia Mishkutenok interview(she's getting remarried)

[76olympics]

Actually, reading Ptichka's translation, it sounds like children were the make or break issue. I can't blame her at all there if that is important to her. That is certainly something that husband and wife must agree upon.

I was so focused on G and G who were my favorites that I don't know as much about M and D. I chiefly remember them for the flexibility. I wish one of them would write a book. I would like to know a lot more about the Soviet Sports system; that was one of the most interesting aspects in "My Sergei" to me.

[soogar]

As for her marrying a man with two children, the children live with the mother (at least that was in the interview on FSU) and Natalia is probably in her mid thirties (or at least close to that) so I don't think of this as much of an issue. Once you get that age, there aren't a lot of men who have been single all of their lives and don't have children (at least normal men).

I wonder why Natalia didn't go to Nagano with Artur. I certainly liked her a lot better than Kazakova. I feel a little sad for her that she isn't as widely recognized as Artur Dmitriev. It's as though she's the forgotten partner.

I'm not sure about the love thing with Artur as Natalia was dating Alexei Urmanov in 1992. Artur is quite charismatic but I always thought she went best with Alexei. They both seem like quiet, unassuming people. Too bad it didn't work out between them.

[lulu]

It would be interesting to get Natalia & Artur's observations on their partnership and their break up, because we have mostly have had to rely on innuendos and bits and pieces from fluff pieces. But, they both seem like private people-so I doubt we will ever get their full history straighten out.
Although it is nice to hear that they aren't throwing darts at each other and are "friendly" towards one another.

I didn't follow figure skating back in 1992. But, at the time was there any reference to Tatiana & Artur dating each other, or her pregnancy or their marriage?
I don't mean a fluff piece about Artur's dating life. But, rather, if commentators, ever casually mentioned doing an M&D routine during 1992 that he was engaged to be married or he was going to be a dad, or what have you?

According to a later fluff piece (in 1996-when he skated with Oksana). Tatiana & Artur got married 6 months after M&D won the OGM, and their baby was born in September of that year.
But as far as I know, it wasn't until after Artur jr. was born that the commentators made any reference to Artur's family. And it wasn't until 1994 Olys Fluff piece that there was any photographic evidence that they actually existed.
But, like I said before, I didn't follow skating during this time-and I haven't seen every single performance.

I'm not trying to imply that T&A kept their relationship hush-hush either.
It just seems like some fans (in the US at least) were suprised when they heard that Artur had gotten married & had a kid.

[Grgranny]

I do remember that they were being interviewed, with their coach, and he said he was getting married and Natalia didn't know it until then and was really upset. I always had the feeling that she was really in love with him. It seems like they were already expecting when they got married. I don't remember that part as well. I know then or later the coach said they had gone to everything together, like the opera, and it left her hanging.

[Jaana]

Not wishing to defend the hockkey-player, but I can well understand if he was not happy to be in a room with all the other people speaking a language he did not understand. Besides, I think it was not polite towards him from the others to behave in that way. He apparently was no linguist, and my guess is that Russian is not one of the easiest languages, LOL.

[gracefulswan]

i respectfully disagree with that sentiment. my boyfriend is from sri lanka.. and you can bet right now i'm trying to learn sinhalese so that i may converse with his family members as not all of them will most likely be fluent in english. i'm going to travel there this year and am intensively studying the lang. in the meantime. if one is going to marry outside of their native lang./culture, then they ought to darn well try and make an effort to learn their partner's language. that is my opinion. i have dated some men whose first lang. was not english and i never expressed anger/frustration or got too upset when i heard them speaking it to their friends/relative. as a matter of fact, if i took the effort to learn their lang. first instead of being judgemental about it, i would probably feel like i fit in more with the culture/family. i personally feel that her ex. hockey player husband had more than his fair share of ethnocentrism in him.

but then again, it's not difficult for me to want to learn another language. i find it very fascinating and challenging to boot. i don't understand people that marry someone whose first language is not english and yet turn right around and criticize them when they speak their native lang.. and when they still eat their native foods..and wear their native clothes. case in point, i have a good pal who was engaged to someone from india. however, she always criticized the culture... saying the food was too spicy and terrible.. that she would never set foot in an indian restaurant, etc. she started saying some inflammatory things about her future mother-in-law.. and you can't just act like that with an indian guy's mother. they are much closer to their family members than the typical american. anyway, he had second thoughts and listened to his mom and decided that he wasn't ready to marry her in the end. i haven't said "i told you so" to my friend, but i certainly feel like i could. if you marry someone from another culture, it helps to try and embrace it instead of always nitpicking this and that. now she says she'll 'swear off of those damn foreigners'.. :sheesh:

[Ptichka]

Not wishing to defend the hockkey-player, but I can well understand if he was not happy to be in a room with all the other people speaking a language he did not understand. Besides, I think it was not polite towards him from the others to behave in that way. He apparently was no linguist, and my guess is that Russian is not one of the easiest languages, LOL.

As I said before, it's a tough call. Back when I had a non-Russian speaking bf I remember if I had a girlfriend come over, we'd speak English with her when we all had dinner together; however, after that it was understood that I would have my "private" conversation with her in Russian. If he happened to wonder in - too bad.

Also, what do yo do if there are, say, 10 Russian speakers and one American in a room. All 10 "Russians" can speak English, while the Ameriacan doesn't speak any Russian. What is the polite way to behave then? I know that when I have a party with mainly Russian speakers, and a firend want to bring along an American significant other, I always make a point to tell the "significant other" explicitly to expect everyone to speak Russian.

Bottom line, it's complicated. Somehow I think that if their relationship was fine in other aspects, this would not have been such a problem.

[Eeyora]

I do remember that they were being interviewed, with their coach, and he said he was getting married and Natalia didn't know it until then and was really upset. I always had the feeling that she was really in love with him. .

I always had this impression too. Even though I was only a little girl at the time.

[Vash01]

1. I believe Artur Jr. does skate; I think he participated in his Dad's show this year.

2. As to Natalia's ex-husband, she actually doesn't talk too badly about him (as "talks about the ex" go). Here is the translation to avoid any misundersanding:


Q: In one interview Tamara Moskina said that your ex-husband was almost a tyrant, and just couldn't stand Russian language. Is that so?

A: In general, yes. He would get very upset if people used Russian with him present, even though he's lived in Russia and played for the hockey team "Dinamo". This intolerance was why we broke up. Besides, he didn't want to have kids. Now, though, my personal life is back on track.



In my personal opinion, it's a tough call. On the one hand, it's hard not to use your native language. On the other hand, I can certainly understand who infuriating it is to have people in your presence speak a language you do not understand.

I don't see anything wrong with people speaking their language, regardless of who is present. If Craig was so bothered by not understanding Russian, he should have learned his wife's language. Afterall she spoke his.

We live in a world where different languages are spoken. Some people from the same country are not comfortable speaking a foreign language with each other. They make speak Chinese, Korean, Spanish, French, etc. because it is Their language, whether others understand it or not. All it takes is a little tolerance to get along.

Vash

[Jaana]

I don't see anything wrong with people speaking their language, regardless of who is present. If Craig was so bothered by not understanding Russian, he should have learned his wife's language. Afterall she spoke his.

Vash

I think it depends which is the country where they were mostly living? If it was USA/Canada, I don´t think he would have needed to learn Russian. Was their stay in Russia just temporary?

If I had Finnish guests and one Canadian, the Finnish friends would speak English. And if in some point the talk would be in Finnish, I would take care that a person not speaking Finnish, would not feel lonely. I think manners are important, LOL.

It would take years and years for somebody to learn a language like Finnish or Russian that fluently that one could really follow discussions and participate in them. Everyone is not a linguist, LOL.

[dmr65]

I would hope he learned some Russian if he lived and trained in Russia with the dynamo team. (I'm kind of getting from Natalia, he knew quite a bit) Not saying he must have been fluent, but he should not prevent her from speaking her native tongue.. Also, some people can become bias against a language for personal reasons.. . I, myself, am shamefully biased against a certain language, because it has always been spoken around me and is the most popular language. I refused to learn it in high school, am forced now to learn it, in order to keep up with the huge mass of clients coming to the USA who speak this language.. I do understand one can feel left out or talked about when others are conversing in another language you can't seem to maintain or understand that well.


Lulu, I'm huge crushing M&D fan and was not a little girl back then.. No, I don't think anyone knew Artur had a girlfriend or dated.. ( I do believe even Moskvina was shocked) It was a big booming shock when it was revealed he had someone and were expecting.. I,to, felt Natalia was in love with Artur.. Some said, it was a painfully quiet love she had for him.. I was hurt, because I seen this quiet love she had and I just am a romantic at heart. But, I couldn't hold it against Artur when he expressed his love for his wife, and how when they fist seen each other out of the blue it was love at first sight, and he did everything in his power to make her his. So I had to let go and comfort my heart for Natalia.. Ok, enough of my melancholiness


I was one of those G&G and M&D fans who wanted M&D to win '94 Olympics, but that's the past and it's still all good... I had my two favorite pairs out there, and they were friends..

It's sweet to know she still communicates with Artur.

Denise

[Matt]

It would take years and years for somebody to learn a language like Finnish or Russian that fluently that one could really follow discussions and participate in them. Everyone is not a linguist, LOL.

Jaana, I have tried to learn Finnish (long story) and ITA that it would take several years to learn before one could participate in discussions!

IMHO, if you're going to become a part of someone's life as a bf/gf and subsequently become part of their nuclear family/inner circle and they speak a language other than English, you should expect and be respectful of that at the very least, if not make the effort to learn a little of the other language. I can't stand this "English or bust" mentality that people seem to have (maybe b/c I speak three languages and am working on a fourth). There was a big push several years ago in Oklahoma to make the state an "English-only" state, regardless of the large number of Hispanics we have in Oklahoma. It's important that people from other countries who are living here learn English so that they can be active participants in society, but the beauty of this country is that we're not a homogenous culture; we're made up of people from other countries and families from other countries who speak different languages. That should be something we embrace instead of a issue of alienation

[Buffy2005]

I knew both Craig and Natalia during their marriage. He did speak Russian but couldn't always keep up. He had a lot of "issues." concerning Natalia. He wouldn't let her out of his sight, even to go to the grocerie store. I think this is a great move for her. I think she will be a lot happier without him. I, also, know that she wanted to have children 6 or 7 years ago. So, that is probably still very important to her.

[76olympics]

Ack! It sounds as though she made the right decision. It could be that the "language divide" may have caused her to get into the marriage without thoroughly understanding him as a person. Afterwards, closer acquaintance may have shown how different they were.

I wish her the best, in any case. In "My Sergei," Katia G. states Natalia was very very quiet, but had the "need for speed" (cars and skiing)! Artur was described as much more gregarious and everybody's buddy.

[lulu]

Thanks for the little insight Biffy. I know we don't have Craig's POV on their marriage, but if what you say is true, than it certainly sounds as if she made the right choice.
I sincerly hope that she is happy with her new husband.

About the whole Natalia & Artur "saga." While I certainly feel for her, if she had a crush on him. I don't see what the big deal was if Artur was very much in love with another woman. :sheesh:
Maybe it is because his wife was a rhythmic gymnast-that I'm a little bit biased in her favor. LOL.